The US Securities and Exchange Commission plans to seek sanctions against Elon Musk for violating a court order as part of an investigation into whether he violated the law when he bought Twitter shares. Musk’s failure to testify was explained by his attendance at the SpaceX launch, but the SEC found this justification invalid.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to seek sanctions for Elon Musk’s failure to attend court-mandated testimony as part of an investigation into his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.
According to Reuters, the SEC filed a motion in federal court in San Francisco, arguing that Musk’s decision to skip a September 10 deposition was in violation of court orders by giving only three hours’ notice. The SEC demanded that Musk be held liable for civil contempt.
Although Musk claimed that he was attending a launch of the Polaris Dawn mission at SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral base in Florida that day, the SEC said Musk had prior notice of the launch. SEC attorney Robin Andrews called Musk’s behavior a “delaying tactic” and asked the court to take a tough stance against such tactics.
Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, called the SEC’s request for sanctions “heavy-handed” and unnecessary. Spiro argued that Musk’s testimony was postponed until October 3 and that his failure to attend the SpaceX launch on September 10 could jeopardize the safety of astronauts.
The SEC is investigating whether Musk violated securities laws when he bought Twitter shares. Musk was accused of failing to disclose in time when he reached the 5% share limit when buying Twitter shares.
This is not Musk’s first run-in with the SEC. In 2018, he was sued by the SEC for his Twitter posts about his intention to delist Tesla. In that case, Musk agreed to pay a $20 million fine and to make some of his social media posts under the supervision of a lawyer.
More than 400 sanctions from the USA: 8 of them are Turkish companies
